As a word-worker, I came to the realization (about five years ago), that "the law" is nothing but words, which means that "lawyering" is the ultimate word work. Like studying a religious text, but with actual, real-life applicability/practicality, etc., for life here, on Earth, now, in the flesh, as opposed to after life, when none of this will matter at all *rolls eyes*
My deepest most-secret hope is that law school is where you go to learn the language of law and acquire the skills to wield the law but ultimately, are encouraged to use those skills in what/whichever way truly suits you, while remembering that the people who decide whether or not one "gets to" continue "lawyering" is only decided by ... lawyers *yikes*
I am an artist, and my mediums are words, light and time. I have an official education in the use of light as a medium, and I have an official education in the use of time as a medium. What I do not have is an official education in word work at its pinnacle. As an artist whose favorite, most-beloved medium is words, there is no greater word than the word of law in These United States. As a word worker, this past decade and a half has been spent working words, and about five years ago, I learned, through books borrowed from local libraries, that the Law is nothing but word work.
The Conflict ::
an internal struggle against that which is, ultimately, Elitist; not wanting to be part of the institution, an institution, any institution, all while knowing that it is the Institution of Institutions that creates the credibility required in a world where democracy supposedly reigns (as opposed to nobility); and that to be largely listened to, while lacking credible credentials, is also, ultimately, a problem; striving to be one of those "experts," while lacking credible credentials affirming one's competence, is hypocrisy, at its finest; not to say that credentials speak to anyone's character, per se, but rather, they speak to a willingness, a willingness to have one's self be judged by an association of one's peers, and only through this acceptance—a stamp of approval—may one find one's self ... Institutionalized, and the inaccurate thought-logic used to revolve around the objectivity of it all, but the process is quite subjective.
I really have no use for the end title that awaits graduating law school students who pass the bar, for it is the learning itself, about the law, how it works, and how to work it, that I hope to gain from law school and really, nothing else. Whatever the title may bring will hopefully free me from my hourly-wage labor, but other than that, my goals for my life will not be attained through the title of "lawyer," cause it is what the "lawyer" knows that I want to know and then apply to the life I've already built for myself. My goals are not to be a lawyer. My goals are to obtain the knowledge that a lawyer obtains so that I may then apply that knowledge to anything and everything that interests me.
My interests revolve mostly around entrepreneurship, capitalism, climate change, and the future. As an entrepreneur, my business is business. We (my business/life partner and I) strive to design various types of businesses along with various types of business structures that can then be applied to many types of commercial activity, theoretically. These business designs strive to create economic sustainability within the business by removing the profit motive. A business, theoretically, only needs to keep itself alive. As a capitalist, my view is that not all businesses need to be profit-motivated nor do they all need to be non-profit. There's no need to dismantle capitalism. Like most great things in life, diversity is key. As a future-forward entrepreneur and a future-forward capitalist, the most-obvious issue of the future is that of economic inequality, whether it be based on race, gender, religion, etc., or one's actual objective economic class. As a future-forward entrepreneur and a future-forward capitalist, the other thing I know to be true is that the future is going to be very expensive, for everyone, but obviously, if one is poor, the future will be impossibly expensive. Those on the losing end of this inequity will need people to fight for them on their behalf. I will be one of these people, with or without the credentials.
Not only will the future be expensive, it will be a climate catastrophe. There's no way around it, at this point. There is only mitigating the damage until alternative resources are widely adopted. As a human person, I have accepted climate change, and I have not owned a personal vehicle since 2013. The Bus, here in Honolulu, will transport me, via the A route, to and from campus. And I am eager for the day when the commuter train line(s) becomes more widely usable throughout the city. When not using public transportation, I walk my physical body wherever else it needs to go, namely two miles (round trip) to and from my day job, five shifts per week.
As a regular person born to regular people who was then raised by other, different regular people, my lot in life is to be poor. Since my individual traits have allowed me to climb the one ladder available to those who lack capital and lack connections, and since I am a citizen of These United States, it is not only my privilege to utilize the mechanism of "equality" made available in this democracy but also, my right.
And since it is my right to educate myself so that I may create a "better life" for myself and anyone I deem family, I want to study the law. The law is just words. The law does not exist without us. The law defines us, and we define the law. I want to be part of something greater than myself. I want to uphold the idea of These United States, of freedom, of justice, of democracy and of equality. I want to understand the law of this land, because without understanding, this great and mighty experiment dies.
If everything goes to plan, my wielding of my knowledge toward my pursuits will hopefully create a path toward an opportunity to serve our government in some capacity, as a credible and credentialed intellectual.